Connor Wickham has signed a four-year deal at Sunderland. Photograph: Paul Burrows/Action Images

Sunderland have beaten off competition from Liverpool and Arsenal to sign the teenage striker Connor Wickham from Ipswich Town in an initial £8.1m transfer which could eventually cost the Wearside club £12m.

Wickham has signed a four-year contract at the Stadium of Light with his fee poised to rise as a series of, generally appearance-related, accessory clauses are triggered.

The England Under-21 international striker had been widely expected to join his boyhood heroes Liverpool this summer but, despite interest from the Merseyside club as well as Arsenal and Tottenham, only Sunderland made an acceptable formal bid for his services.

"A number of top sides have been chasing Connor for some time now so naturally we are absolutely delighted he has chosen to come to Sunderland," Steve Bruce, Sunderland's manager, said.

"He is only young but, at 6ft 3in, he's a physical presence. With his height and style of play he'll offer us a threat in front of goal and complement our existing strikers.

"We've been watching him for a while and he's improving and developing all the time. He is a great prospect and I'm sure our supporters will enjoy watching him play."

Although Wickham, who made his Ipswich debut aged 16, scored a modest nine goals in 41 appearances for the Portman Road side last season he was regularly deployed as a winger.

He impressed sufficiently to be named the Football League's young player of the year but while Sunderland believe they have pulled off "a significant coup" in securing his services it is an expensive one.

Simon Clegg, Ipswich's chief executive, certainly feels his Championship club have received their money's worth. "As much as we'd have liked to have kept Connor we have to be realistic and recognise that the offer from Sunderland was simply too good to turn down," Clegg said.

"The deal is by far the biggest transfer fee this club has ever received and I'm told this could be a record in terms of a player moving from the Championship into the Premier League for the first time."